Black Creek Designs
American
“Art is as much the nature of the process and the materials chosen as it is the outcome.”
Over the last twenty years, Thomas Throop (pronounced Troop), has created elegant, detailed forms that are visually powerful and serve his clients’ functional needs. His designs respond and relate to their surroundings while standing distinctly on their own merits, a difficult balancing act.
Though his undergraduate degree is in economics and photography, his schooling in the fine art of building with wood began decades earlier as he helped his uncle, a boat builder and antique restorer, during the summers. After college, he spent several years learning the craft of house restoration. He decided to refine his skills by moving to Dorset, England where he attended a two-year program at the John Makepeace School for Craftsmen in Wood. Makepeace is one of England’s finest contemporary furniture designer-makers.
This experience opened Throop to the possibilities born of design and handcraft skills, exposing him to the ideas of the English Arts and Crafts movement and its continued relevance today. While deeply rooted in the expression of the wood itself and the time-honored craftsmanship of the past, Tom’s furniture is ultimately contemporary.
Since returning to the United States in 1992, Throop has specialized in designing and building one of a kind furniture. In addition to having his pieces purchased for significant public and private collections, he has won numerous awards such as the prestigious Wharton Esherick Prize, and has been featured in many publications, including Dona Meilach’s Wood Art Today, Kerry Pierce’s Custom Furniture Source Book – A Guide to 125 Craftsman and House & Garden Magazine.
He has shown at over 100 juried exhibitions, most recently at the renowned Smithsonian Craft Show in Washington, DC and the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. His work is in private collections in the US, UK and Turkey. Public collections include the White House Ornament Collection in Washington, DC. Mr. Throop’s work has been exhibited in various galleries across the US and in London, England.
Mr. Throop’s studio, Black Creek Designs LLC, is located in thecenter of New Canaan, CT at 26 Grove Street. He resides in the seaside village of Rowayton, Connecticut with his wife, Kelley, an attorney.
C.V. (Resume)
EDUCATION
John Makepeace School for Craftsmen in Wood, Dorset, England 1992 BA Economics, Connecticut College 1986
EXHIBITIONS
Fairfield Museum, Handcrafted: Artisans Past and Present, Fairfield CT Oct 2015 – Mar 2016 Milford Arts Council, Furniture: Living With Art, Milford CT 2014 Silvermine Art Guild, Featured Artist, New Canaan, CT 2013 Reynolds Fine Art Gallery, Furniture Invitational, New Haven CT 2013 The Next Wave, A Third generation of Studio Furniture Makers, Windsor Art Center, Windsor CT 2011 Artists invite Artists, Artplace, Fairfield, CT 2011 A Just Standard, CT Commission on Culture and Tourism, Hartford, CT 2011 Architectural Digest Design Show, New York, NY 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 Gallery 12, Solo Exhibition, New Canaan, CT 2008/ 2009, 2011/2012 Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show 2007, 2012 Smithsonian Craft Show, Washington DC 2006, 2007, 2013 American Craft Exposition, Evanston IL 2006, 2007 Spectrum 2005, New Canaan Society of the Arts 2005 Art from Connecticut Forests, Lyman Allyn Art Museum 2004 SOFA, Sculpture Objects & Functional Art, New York, New York 2003, 2004 SOFA Chicago, Chicago, IL 2002, 2003 Studio Furniture, The Mill Gallery, Guilford Handcraft Center, Guilford, CT 2004 Local Treasures, Ironwood Gallery, Ridgefield, CT 2003 Elegant Solutions- an Installation, Three- Person Show, Jeffrey Weiss Gallery, Black Rock, CT 2002 Artful Furniture + Lighting, Ironwood Gallery, Ridgefield, CT 2002 ACC Craft Fair, Baltimore, MD 1994, 1996, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 Washington Craft Show, Washington, DC 2001, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 Westchester Craft Show, White Plains, NY 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Harmony in Material and Form, Solo Exhibition, Creations Gallery, Hockessin, DE 2001 USA Craft Today, Silvermine Guild Galleries, New Canaan, CT 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008 Society for Connecticut Crafts Annual Exhibition, CT 1995-2001 Mystic Art Association, Furniture: A Celebration of the Individual Craftsman, Mystic, CT 1998 -2007 Philadelphia Furniture and Furnishings Show, Philadelphia, PA 1998-2002 The Craftsman's Chair, Lynn Tendler Bignell Gallery, Brookfield Crafts Center, Brookfield, CT 1997 H. Pelham Curtis Gallery, Living Images and Shapes, Two-Person Show, New Canaan, CT 1997 Connecticut Commission on the Arts, Showcase Gallery, Bradley International Airport, Hartford, CT 1995 Wadsworth Atheneum Craft Show, Hartford, CT 1995 Loft Gallery, New Views, Two-Person Show, Guilford, CT 1995 Decorative Arts Today, Bonhams, London, England 1993 Parnham at Sotheby's, London, England 1992 New Designers, Business Design Center, London, England 1992
Collections
White House Ornament Collection, Washington, DC Ironwood Gallery, Ridgefield, CT Jeffrey Weiss Gallery, Black Rock, CT General Cigar Company, Windsor, CT Sansar Gallery, Washington, DC Fiell Gallery, London, England The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA Creations Fine Woodworking Gallery, Hockessin, DE Private collections in the UK, Turkey and USA
